Conventional image sensing apparatus, such as a video cameras, have been automated and equipped with variety of functions including auto exposure (AE) functions and auto focus (AF) functions, which make it easy to obtain an image of good quality.
Further, an image sensing apparatus has been down-sized and its optical system has achieved a high magnification. At the same time, because of these developments, vibration of an image sensing apparatus became a major cause of degradation of a sensed image. To overcome this vibration problem, a variety of types of vibration compensation functions for compensating blur in a sensed image due to vibration (e.g., shaking of hands) of an image sensing apparatus have been proposed. By equipping such vibration compensation function in an image sensing apparatus, a better image can be easily obtained.
A compensation apparatus equipped with this kind of vibration compensation function that detects vibration of the apparatus based on information from an angular velocity sensor, acquires a vibration compensation signal by processing the detected vibration, and optically or electrically compensates the blur in a sensed image affected by, for example, uncontrollable hand movements.
Conversely, angular velocity sensors have also been down-sized along with the recent down-sizing of image sensing apparatus. It is proposed to package two sensors into one sensor to further achieve down-sizing.
If the two sensors are packaged into one sensor, although the volume of the sensor is reduced, freedom of a mount position of the sensor is limited. More specifically, since axes (vibration detection axes, or detection axes) of two angular velocity sensors have to be orthogonal, the packaged sensor has to be mounted on a predetermined plane and the detection axes are required to be more precisely aligned so as to be parallel to corresponding compensation axes.
The aforesaid problem will be explained in more detail with reference to FIGS. 8A and 8B. In FIG. 8A, reference numeral 1001 denotes an angular velocity detector having two angular velocity detection axes. Reference numerals 1011 and 1012 respectively denote the angular velocity detection axes.
The angular velocity detector 1001 has to be laid out on a plane 1021 which is orthogonal to an optical axis 104 of an image sensing optical system 150 as shown in FIG. 8B, since the angular velocity detection axes 1011 and 1012 have to be orthogonal to the optical axis 104.
Further, although it is not shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, a typical vibration compensation unit for compensating vibration of image sensing apparatus also has two axes (compensation axes) which correspond to the two detection axes 1011 and 1012, and it is necessary to align the angular velocity detector 1001 and the vibration compensation unit so that the detection axes 1011 and 1012 match the corresponding compensation axes.
Thus, freedom of layout of the angular velocity detector 1001 is more limited than arranging two sensors individually.